The recent decision from the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (Tribunal) in Talos v. Grand Erie District School Board raises important issues about the provision of benefits to employees aged 65 and older. In Talos, the Tribunal found that section 25 (2.1) of the Ontario Human Rights Code (Code), which effectively permits employers to cease providing employees with benefits at age 65, is unconstitutional. More specifically, the Tribunal held that this age-based “carve out” from Code protection violates the equality guarantee under section 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (Charter) and cannot be justified under section 1 of the Charter as a reasonable limit.
Industry: Colleges
FTR Quarterly – Issue 9
In This Issue Sexual Harassment: Best Practices for Proactive Employers and Service Providers FTRQ&A – Customer-to-Customer Harassment: Service Provider Liability Questions, Answered Tips for Conducting Harassment Investigations Sexual Harassment and Your Organization: Best Practice Tips for Boards of Directors For Your Workplace, At Your Workplace: Hicks Morley’s On-Site Learn-by-Doing Training Programs Featured Articles Sexual Harassment:…
Arbitrator Finds Co-ordinator Duties Should Be Considered in Assessing Whether a Professor Has Sessional Status
An arbitration award in St Lawrence College and OPSEU Local 417 rendered on March 26, 2018 is potentially very significant to the distribution of work between full-time, sessional, partial load and part-time professors by a college. This College Update reviews the award and its possible impact on college staffing decisions going forward.
CAFCE, CACEE and OsgoodePD Program “Work Integrated Learning: Best Practices for Legal Risk Management”
Topic Employment Standards and Insurance – Perspectives of Employer, Student & Institution.
Workplace Investigation Training
This workshop focuses on essential investigation skills required by HR Professionals who are charged with investigating workplace incidents including: workplace harassment and violence complaints, discrimination and harassment complaints under the Human Rights Code, employee misconduct such as suspected sick leave abuse or time theft, and more!
The (Funding) Future is Here: Ontario Releases Pension Funding Reform Details
On December 14, 2017, the Ontario government published the long-awaited details to support the proposed reforms to funding rules for Ontario pension plans. The proposed regulations describe the amendments to the Pension Benefits Act Regulations that will, among other things: Alter solvency funding obligations, by reducing the solvency deficiency required to be funded (such that…
Colleges and Universities: Who is the Health Information Custodian under PHIPA?
This is a short note to our college and university clients – all of whom provide various services to their communities that are properly characterized as “health care” and therefore governed by the Personal Health Information Protection Act. Recent amendments to PHIPA give rise to questions about personal health information governance and the proper identity…
Jessica M. Toldo
Jessica advises employers on a wide range of labour and employment matters. This includes labour disputes, grievance arbitrations, human rights and accommodation.
Arbitrator Considers Employer’s Liability for “Personal Harassment” in Article 4.6.2 of the Support Staff CBA
In an award released June 28, 2017, George Brown College and OPSEU Local 557, Arbitrator Michael Bendel considered the question of the College’s financial liability for “personal harassment” under Article 4.4.2 of the Support Staff Collective Agreement…
HRTO Decision Clarifies Family Status Accommodation Test and Finds Reasonable Investigation Conducted
In Ananda v. Humber College Institute of Technology & Advanced Learning, a recent decision of the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (Tribunal), the Tribunal confirmed its approach to assessing claims of family status discrimination (in this case, involving eldercare) and described some of the features of a picture-perfect human rights investigation…